This invention relates to measuring devices, and more particularly to an automatic system and process for weighing trucks.
The Department of Transportation of many states limits the load (weight) that trucks can carry on its highways and roads to an amount substantially less than the maximum load-carrying capacity of the trucks, and/or limits the gross overall weight of trucks on their highways. State laws and regulations usually allow greater loads for larger size trucks with the precise allowable load being dependent on the overall length and/or number of axles of the truck. In an effort to enforce compliance of their laws and regulations, the states have set up road blocks and weighing stations along their highways and have regularly run checks and vehicle (truck) inspections outside of truck terminals and depots, such as outside of refineries. In a further effort to enforce their laws and regulations, as well as increase their revenues, many states have issued substantial fines against refineries, truck terminals, and depots for weight violations of trucks originating at that refinery, terminal, or depot.
In order to comply with state laws and regulations, most large and/or busy truck terminals, depots, and refineries are now weighing, measuring the length, and counting the axles of outgoing trucks and requiring the trucks to dump excess load, if they exceed state laws or regulations, before receiving a bill of lading. Reading truck scales, measuring truck lengths, counting axles, comparing the readings and measurements with state laws and regulations, and calculating the excess load have heretofore been done manually by gaugers. This is very tedious, time-consuming, and expensive and often requires many employees who are needed elsewhere in the refinery, terminal, or depot. It also often causes long waiting lines of trucks. These waiting lines can be very, very slow because of the amount of time needed to make the manual truck measurements and calculations. Now, truck drivers as a group can be very impatient, especially in hot weather, such as found in refineries in Georgia, Texas, etc. Time is also money to truck drivers, many of whom are independent distributors. Long waiting time creates morale problems and bad customer relations.
It is therefore desirable to provide an improved process and system which overcomes most, if not all, of the above problems.